Remembering Fred Ordway, the Space Age Scribe

摘要

I recently lost a close associate and one of my best friends -Frederick Ira Ordway Ⅲ, a true Space Age historian, futurist and prolific author who passed away in July ["Frederick Ordway Dies; Worked on Apollo Program, '2001: A Space Odyssey,'" July 14, page 9]. He meticulously researched and recorded the past, present and future potential for space exploration and development through a torrent of books, articles, other published works and presentations. I met Fred in the mid-1950s, when the Space Age was about to spring forth, at the U.S. Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA) in Huntsville, Alabama. I was a project engineer in the Liquid Propulsion Section of the Structures and Mechanics Laboratory and Fred soon became heavily involved in the ABMA information and communication needs including publications. We worked closely with the German rocket team directed by Dr. Wernher von Braun and made many long-term friends with this unique collection of rocket experts.